Recent Talks

After placing the Gaia mission in the context of current astrophysical research, the astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic data provided by the satellite, as presented in its third data archive, DR3, will be reviewed. Gaia third archive contains, in addition to the measurements from the satellite's instruments, an extensive set of astrophysical parameters derived by the DPAC data processing consortium, for stars, unresolved galaxies, and solar system objects. These parameters correspond to about 1.8 billion sources repeatedly observed by the satellite during the first 34 months of operation. In the case of the Milky Way stars, DR3 contains information for about 1% of its stars, which has made it possible, for the first time, to study the dynamics of the disk and the halo, and to reconstruct the tumultuous evolutionary history of our galaxy, which is etched in its halo. Studying the integrals of the motion and the orbital actions, some 15 episodes of accretion of other galaxies by our galaxy have been identified, which shows that our Galaxy is the result of billions of years of "galactic canibalism". Accretion phenomena and tidal current trails are frequently observed in other galaxies and show that our Universe evolves through a hierarchical formation of galaxies.

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Meeting will be held online

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ns78Go3FM7I

Zoom: https://rediris.zoom.us/j/87455295473?pwd=dnd2SkppQ1F2UlN2K0FLbmlLZEFmZz09

Meeting ID: 874 5529 5473

Passcode: 941406

Como saben, el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias dispone del 50% de tiempo del Supercomputador de La Palma, usado principalmente por el Área de Investigación. Sin embargo, por diversos motivos, los equipos de ingeniería no se han prodigado en el uso de estos servicios.
Ahora bien, debido a algunas limitaciones de los recursos informáticos individuales, algunos compañeros de ingeniería (Instrumentación e IACTEC/EST) se están iniciando en el uso de estos recursos.
En esta charla daremos una visión general de los recursos de supercomputación del IAC, así como las herramientas que nos permitirían hacer uso de estos recursos.
Además, mostraremos algunos de los trabajos que "YA" se han realizado en supercomputación en ingeniería (Instrumentación e IACTEC/EST). Espero que esta charla anime a otros colegas de ingeniería a hacer uso de los recursos de supercomputación del IAC.

Enlace de Youtube

https://youtu.be/ONn7BmpIHKM

Durante los últimos 45 años, el grupo de Sismología Solar (y Estelar y Búsqueda de Exoplanetas) del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, ha estado observando ininterrumpidamente los patrones espaciales y temporales de vibración del Sol. He estado involucrado en esta increíble aventura durante los últimos 30 años, intentando relacionar las frecuencias de oscilación del sol con su estructura y dinámica internas. En este seminario, me gustaría mostrarles aquellos aspectos científicos, instrumentales y humanistas que más me han llamado la atención a lo largo de estos años, poniendo especial relevancia en las contribuciones del grupo de investigación y de su fundador, el profesor Teodoro Roca Cortés. 

Una imagen estigmática es aquella libre de aberraciones ópticas. Es posible obtener sistemas formadores de imagen estigmáticos de manera analítica. Esas expresiones analíticas pueden utilizarse para diseñar numerosos sistemas ópticos desde cero.

The Magellanic Clouds (MCs) are the closest example of a three-body
interacting system composed of the Milky Way (MW), the Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC), and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Therefore, the unique opportunity
provided by their relative proximity allowed us to analyse with matchless detail
the dynamical and morphological evolution that a galaxy experience as a
consequence of the mutual gravitational interaction with its neighbors. In this
context, we performed a multi-faceted analysis, taking advantage of astrometric,
kinematics, and photometric data, with the main goal of unveiling the past
evolutionary path of the MCs and their intense interaction history. We tackled
this task by using two complementary approaches: (i) we adopted the properties
of the MCs star cluster (SC) system to get insights into their past evolution
and (ii) we probed the low-luminous regime of the outer regions of the MCs as
they are the most sensitive to recent or past tidal stripping events. I will
discuss the main outcomes up-to-date of this project and its future perspectives
in light of the new ongoing facilities.

Zoom link: https://rediris.zoom.us/j/81617686828?pwd=YUpBMXpobUpnYzlpUzluTGo1N2hRQT09

Meeing ID: 816 1768 6828

 Passcode: 990310

https://youtu.be/q1b98yBliFQ

Until relatively recently, high-resolution infrared spectrographs could examine only tiny portions of individual spectral windows in a single exposure.  Silicon immersion gratings, combined with sensitive, large-format IR detectors have made it possible to observe broad swaths of the IR at once at very high resolution and to do so on much fainter systems.  We discuss the development of Si diffractive optics and of the H and K spectrograph IGRINS (now in use on the Gemini South Telescope) and the Giant Magellan Telescope Infrared Spectrograph, which will observe from 1.08 μm to 5.4 μm at R=λ/Δλ=65,000-85,000 in a single exposure.  We present results from IGRINS that demonstrate its sensitivity and versatility as it sheds new light on the atmospheres of exoplanets and cool brown dwarfs, on the evolution of YSO’s and on the physics of the ISM.

In September 2015 Roger Hoyland gave two talks on the nature of everyday equipment using microwaves and giving special attention in the latter to mobile phones. Now, 7 years on, he presents the latest findings about the effects mobile phones have on the brain. In addition to this update he introduces the effect now known as the Havana Syndrome. This is a different mechanism to those previously discussed in which microwaves can affect the brain and to some people the belief is that it has be weaponised by certain entities so that it can be used in covert war operations as is suspected in the Havana Syndrome. In this presentation the Havana Syndrome is explained and the accusation that it is caused by a microwave source is investigated using scientific basis.

Exciting things may have happened sometimes to the stars we see in the sky today. For example, Betelgeuse, also known as Alpha-Ori, an M-type red supergiant, the 10th brightest sky in the sky (usually), may well have been a binary star in the past. Its rapid rotation, peculiarly large Galactic velocity, and unusual chemical abundances all point to it being kicked out from the birth environment and merging as a binary star. By comparing a Monte-Carlo stellar cluster population model with the observed populations of Galactic O- and B- type stars (progenitors of red supergiants), I will show that the story of Betelgeuse is not at all uncommon. In distant galaxies, closely related scenarios may give rise to peculiar core-collapse supernovae. I will conclude by briefly discussing how the diversity of such binary and triple stellar evolution histories reflects in the variety of the currently discovered core-collapse supernovae.

 Dentro del diseño preliminar de EST se está realizando el estudio del diseño preliminar del control del mismo. En la presente charla hablaremos sobre los retos que plantea su diseño, los problemas y las posibles soluciones que estamos estudiando.

Enlace de Youtube

https://youtu.be/U7kpPBHConU

The tidal tails of stellar clusters are an important tool for studying the clusters’ birth conditions, their evolution, coupling, and interaction with the Galactic potential, and to understand how field stars populate the Milky Way. Thanks to Gaia, much progress has been accomplished in finding tails of open clusters. We will show here that the physical size of such tidal tails is larger than previously thought. Their identification requires combining the sophisticated analysis of the Gaia catalogue using machine learning techniques to the use of N-body simulations and the new compact convergent point method. We will highlight recent results about the tails of the Hyades and of NGC 752, which extend over several hundreds of parsecs and present puzzling asymmetries that likely provide constraints on the potential of Milky Way. Finally, we will also present the extension of our studies to a large ensemble of open clusters and show how our analysis opens a completely new window on the study of open clusters, whose potential will be fully unleashed with future Gaia data releases.